


Transformation

by Miranthia



Series: 30 Day Prompt Challenge [24]
Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Character Death, F/F, Garmen, Project Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-17 02:24:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13067160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miranthia/pseuds/Miranthia
Summary: "Grief is like the ocean; it comes in waves, ebbing and flowing.  Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming.  All we can do is learn to swim." --Vicki Harrison





	Transformation

_They came out of nowhere._

_They had been positive that this area was safe; that they had cleared out all of the remaining Walkers. It took them three days to do it, and even then there hadn’t been many to deal with._

_There hadn’t even been a mass sighting in months._

_They weren’t even prepared for it when it did happen. They had all been out of the house, enjoying the nice spring day. The winter had been a hard one, the children cooped up inside for the bulk of the season._

_But they had let their guard down._

_They were living too easy, the attacks too far and few between. That fact reassured them and gave the false pretense that they were safe._

_But the truth was they would never be safe._

_Ever._

_Not until a cure was found._

_The group that attacked them wasn’t overly large, but they were outnumbered about five to one. They weren’t even properly armed; all four had a combat knife apiece, maybe three pistols, and one rifle. They had been in the local park, playing with the kids on the equipment there. Their laughter is what more than likely drew them out of hiding._

_Lotte and Vi were cut off from the others, the two drawing half of their unwanted company away towards the opposite end of the park, Lotte tossing their extra pistol to Tod._

_The kids screamed in terror, clinging to their parents as the adults tried to get them to safety, Tod putting the pistol to good use._

_“If we can make it to the trees we might stand a chance!” he yelled over the shots._

_“Don’t talk, just shoot!”_

_“There’s no time for that!” Griff shouted, picking their son up and passing him off to Tod. A shrill yell reached her ears and she swung around, her heart stopping. Their little girl had tripped, Carmen bending to help her back up, three of the creatures almost upon them._

_Griff saw red, her world stopping as she grit her teeth and threw herself onto the nearest one, successfully knocking it into the other two. She fought with tooth and nail, both the knife and the pistol forgotten as she tried to move the Walkers away from her family. She screamed out in pain, rotting teeth sinking in to her outstretched arm. Her hand closed over the hilt of the blade, ripping her arm out of the decaying mouth as she rolled them over, stabbing it in the head, ears deaf to her name being screamed. Teeth sank into her shoulder and she yelled out again, headbutting the walker in question before stabbing it between the eyes._

_Her vision was cloudy and her body was burning, but she got to her feet, finding the pistol as two more came upon her. She saw Carmen in the midst, their daughter in her arms. “God damnit Carmen get the fuck out of here! Get them out of here!”_

_“I’m not leaving you here!”_

_“You have to, just go!”_

_Griff yelled out and brought her bitten, bloody, and shaking arm up, taking out the snarling creature closest to her love before moving on to the next. She took out four more before she collapsed onto the ground, her world starting to go black._

_Lotte and Vi had made it back to them, finishing the rest of them off with Tod as Carmen crashed to the ground next to Griff, bringing the blonde’s head into her lap. “Griff? Griff baby, wake up. Wake up!”_

_The blonde coughed and fought to open up her eyes, her misty blues locking on to the horror stricken face of Carmen. “Is everyone ok?”_

_Carmen nodded her head and smoothed the blood stained hair out of Griff’s face, fighting hard to keep her emotions at bay. “Yeah, everyone is ok.”_

_“Good.” Griff smiled weakly, her eyes fluttering shut momentarily before she forced them open again. “You have to promise me that you won’t let me turn into one of the-“_

_“Don’t. Don’t do this to me, don-“_

_“Shh, shh hey, hey,” she raised her uninjured arm to the side of her lover’s face, brushing the first tear away as it ran down her face. “It’s going to be ok, baby. You know, it’s better this way.”_

_“Don’t say that! How in the hell is it better?”_

_“I mean it. I wouldn’t survive without you. But you? You’re strong.” she pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, her body starting to shake. “You’re a survivor. And I know….I know you’ll take care of them. Of all of them. C-Carmen pr-promise me.”_

_“Jovie-“_

_“Promise!”_

_Carmen took in a deep breath and nodded, keeping her tight hold on Griff, the younger woman’s body so hot it was burning her own, but she did not dare let her go. She chanced a look around, seeing that Tod, Lotte, and Vi had taken the kids away from the park. “I promise. I promise baby, I won’t let you transform into one of those things.”_

_Griff smiled weakly and closed her eyes, her breathing becoming fainter by the minute. “That’s my girl. Now, do it….fast. I don’t think I’m…”_

_Carmen squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the pistol being pressed into her hand. She swallowed the nausea back, gently moving out from underneath Griff. She pressed a kiss to her forehead, tears escaping her closed lids to fall onto the paling woman’s skin. She sniffed and crouched on one knee, pulling the hammer back on the small gun in her hands. “I’m sorry.” she said softly._

_Griff chuckled weakly, a harsh cough ripping out of her lungs not long after. “Don’t be. It’s ok love, it’s ok. This is life. I’ve been lucky to have made it this long, because of you. It was my turn to save you this time.” she smiled over at the older woman, her blue eyes watery and red-rimmed._

_Carmen choked out a slight sob, her brow furrowing in grief no matter how hard she tried to fight it as she looked at her dying friend._

_Her best friend._

_Her lover._

_Her life-long companion._

_Her wife._

_Even now, Carmen was shocked at how serene and peaceful the younger woman looked. She stilled her shaking arms, both hands gripping the pistol. “You had already saved me, Jovie. I love you baby girl.”_

_“I know.” Griff said quietly, a smile on her lips and tears running across her face. “I love you too, my darling.”_

_After the last syllables drifted from her lips, her blue eyes closing forever, Carmen pulled the trigger._

_The shot echoing off of the trees and her anguished screams were the only sounds that emitted from the now still park on that bright, spring day._

-o-

Carmen woke with a start, her body covered in a sheen of cool sweat, sobs ripping themselves out of her chest. She felt the soft hands on her face before the voice reached her ears and she responded automatically, curling into the body beside her, her arms wrapping tightly around it.

Griff ran a hand soothingly down Carmen’s trembling back, her other hand stroking her disheveled hair softly. “Shh, shhhh it’s alright. Carmen baby, it’s alright; it was just a dream.” she peppered the exposed shoulder with kisses, the older woman’s sobs breaking her heart.

“I just….I just need to feel you.” Carmen whispered against her neck, rolling Griff over to rest her body over the smaller woman’s. “I need to know you are here.”

The blonde took her face in her hands as Carmen claimed her lips, swiping the tears off of her cheeks as they escaped her closed lids. Carmen broke away from her lips to trail them down her neck, her hands pulling her shirt off to the left. She placed a kiss above her left breast before pressing her ear to it and sighing deeply, the sound of Griff’s heartbeat soothing her. 

Griff wrapped her arms around the calming woman, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.” She said quietly.

“Do you promise?”

“On my life.”

With that the two drifted back to sleep, the tremors and sobs that wracked Carmen’s body finally dying off, the feel of Griff underneath her, heart beating steadily in her ear, comforting her.

They would make it through this.

They were going to survive.

All of them.

But for now, they were going to sleep. One void of horrid dreams that preyed on their deepest and darkest fears.

**Author's Note:**

> This crazy thing made me so sad it took me 4 years to edit it.
> 
> How pathetic is that?!?!


End file.
